By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world and changes the future in another part of the world. A small version of the butterfly effect will be on display at Hoisington’s 130th Annual Labor Day Celebration from Sept. 4-7. In January, the Hoisington Chamber of Commerce announced the return of the carnival for this year’s celebration. Chamber Director Karen Baldyga said that means some more changes are on the way.
“We have our carnival back, so we can shut Main Street down,” Baldyga said. “With us being able to shut it down for the weekend, we’re able to do more things down on Main Street.”
The first big change will take place on Saturday, Sept. 5 with the Hoisington Market Square moving from the Activity Center back to the downtown area.
“It will start at 10 a.m. and go until 5 p.m.,” Baldyga said. “We are still accepting vendors for this craft show. We’ll have live music with acts changing throughout the day.”
The event will also feature food trucks, drink vendors, bounce houses, games, and a beer garden. Some indoor vendor spaces are still available at the Knights of Columbus.
“We’re really hoping to build up a lot of attraction for this event this year, making it bigger and better, to drive more traffic down here to help our vendors out and make it more of a festival-type atmosphere,” said Baldyga.
The carnival returns for four days this year, beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 4. The carnival will run 6-10 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, then from noon to 10 p.m. on Monday with a one-hour break from 5-6 p.m. Concessions and carnival games will be available along with the rides. Wristbands will be available for $33.